You know those family meals from your childhood you so vividly remember, you can almost taste them?
Our kids will look back on this vegan dinner with the same fondness.
No joke, we eat this every Sunday.
And when I make double, we eat the leftovers for dinner on Monday.
That’s how popular it is with the kids under our roof.
And my husband and I like it because it takes minimal work on our part.
It uses 10 ingredients (not including any toppings you want to add), and can be ready in less than an hour. However, if you enjoy the aroma of chili cooking on the stove all day, you won’t be disappointed. You can make this around noon and let it simmer for a few hours before serving.
As you can tell, it’s a flexible and forgiving dish.
Ready to make this yummy vegan chili recipe? Let’s dig in!
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Ingredients for this Vegan Dinner
You’ll need an onion (I use sweet but yellow or white work too); a few cloves of garlic; two cans of diced tomatoes (petite diced is preferred but I rarely find it at Costco, and a larger size works fine); a can of lentils, black beans, and red kidney beans; frozen corn; and a chili seasoning packet.
We use Simply Organic’s Mild Chili Seasoning Mix because it’s not too spicy for our kids (who don’t like much spice) and because my husband and I love it too. I buy it in bulk on Amazon.
Lately, we’ve been eating more whole-food plant-based, so we often leave out the vegan sausage, but it definitely adds meatiness to the dish. If you’re looking for a vegan sausage, our favorite for this dish is the Field Roast Grain Meat Italian Sausages.
How to Make this Vegan Chili Recipe
Start with dicing the onion and garlic and crumbling the sausage (if using). And drain the cans of beans and lentils. Heat a large pot on medium-high heat. Add the onion mixture and stir until the onions become translucent.
Add the Simply Organic Mild Chili Seasoning Mix and stir some more. The smell will be ah-mazing! Keep stirring so it doesn’t stick to the pan.
Add the diced tomatoes, drained lentils and beans, and frozen corn. Stir it all together and add water. If you plan to eat this in 30 minutes, add one cup of water. If this is going to simmer on the stove for a few hours, I add 4 to 6 cups of water. If it looks watery now, don’t worry. It’ll cook off.
Stir and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes and then simmer for 30 minutes (or several hours) uncovered. If you plan to leave it to simmer for a few hours, keep checking on it to stir every so often and see if it needs more water.
Fun and Tasty Vegan Chili Toppings
Once the chili is done, it’s ready to eat.
Unless you want to go crazy with some fun toppings!
Here are a few ideas you can put out for a vegan chili toppings bar.
- Vegan sour cream
- Tortilla chips
- Diced avocado
- Vegan shredded cheese
- Leftover rice
- Sliced chives
I also dunk toasted sourdough bread in this when I’m not feeling inspired to put out a toppings bar.
How’d it Turn Out?
I’d love to hear how this recipe turned out for you and your family! Please Pin it to Pinterest or tag me on Instagram with a picture of how it turned out, or leave me a comment below!
This vegan chili recipe has been in our line up for over two years. It’s one of the first vegan dinners we made when we went plant-based.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Ingredients
- 1 onion, diced (I use a sweet onion but a yellow or white onion could work, too)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (or about 2 teaspoons from a jar of minced garlic)
- 2 vegan Italian sausages, crumbled (we use Field Roast Grain Meat Co.)
- 1 chili seasoning packet (we use Simply Organic’s Mild Chili Seasoning Mix)
- 2 14oz cans of petite diced tomatoes (if you can’t find petite, regular diced works fine)
- 1 15oz can of lentils, drained and rinsed
- 1 15oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15oz can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup of frozen corn
- 1 or 8 cups of water (depending on how long you’re going to cook it)
- Optional toppings: vegan sour cream, sliced chives, crumbled tortilla chips, avocados, leftover rice, and more!
Instructions
- In a large pot, place crumbled sausages, diced onion, and minced garlic over medium-high heat. If you’d like, you can add a bit of olive oil, but it’s not necessary. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until the onion becomes translucent (3-7 minutes).
- Sprinkle the seasoning mix over the sausage, onion and garlic. Stir to combine and cook for another minute or two, stirring so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Next, pour the 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes into the pot.
- Then, pour the lentils, black beans, and kidney beans (make sure they are all rinsed and drained) into the pot.
- Pour the corn into the pot.
- Stir it all together. Then, add the water. If you’re going to cook this in 30-60 minutes for dinner, then only add 1 cup of water. If you plan to leave this simmering on the stove all day like we usually do, add anywhere from 6-8 cups of water. A lot of the water will cook off, so don’t worry if it looks too watery now.
- Stir the ingredients together and bring the chili to a boil. Let it boil for about 5 minutes. Then reduce heat to a simmer and cook with the lid off for 30 or so minutes if cooking with 1 cup of water. If cooking with 6-8 cups of water, let it simmer with the lid off for 4-5 hours (or more if you’d like). Check on it from time to time and give it a stir every once in a while. If it starts getting too dry, feel free to add more water if needed.
- Once the chili is done, you can serve as-is and enjoy, or get creative and add some toppings (our kid’s favorite is vegan sour cream)!
Notes
*Nutrition facts are approximate and don't include toppings; Recipe adapted from Nikki Vegan’s The Best Vegan Chili Recipe
12 comments
Your idea to put tortillas on top of the chili sounds delicious.
Chile (or Texas chili) is one of my favorite things to eat! In fact, I make a giant batch and freeze it to pull out when I need something quick. And – that’s what’s for supper tonight – yay!
Looks delicious! I am always looking for a good vegan chili!
We have a vegan chili recipe similar to yours that I absolutely love. I often swap it in for our meat version every now and again! And I just found a dairy free sour cream that I can live with… so its a win!
That’s awesome Marianne!
This looks and sounds amazing. I’d like to start incorporating more plant-based meals into our weekly line-up and this will be a good start!
Yay! That’s great to hear Emi!
I love vegan chili and I’m always excited to try a new recipe. Look forward to preparing this recipe soon.
Such great meal ideas!
This recipe sounds delicious and easy! I will definitely be making a batch of this. I have recently wanted to move away from meat and I have been struggling with knowing how to get my protein this seems like an answer to my problem.
Hi Jessica! Thanks for sharing. Hope you enjoy this! As for protein, it’s surprising how much protein is in plants. We use legumes (like lentils, beans, tofu, etc.), nuts, quinoa, seeds, potatoes, vegetables high in protein (think broccoli) and high protein whole wheat, whole grain bread. Feel free to reach out at any time if you have questions!
Oh my goodness. My son loves chili! Yum yum yum! Thanks for sharing!